The Logical Thing to Do
by OldSFfan
Summary: House is back in prison; Cuddy is pregnant; and nature scrambles the best laid plans. A sequel to my "Another Day in Court" and "Visiting Day," rated T for language, just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

House, Wilson, Cuddy, and other characters from the series House M.D. are not mine, and this fiction is not intended to violate the owners' copyrights. This is AU, several years after Season 8. House is finishing up his second prison sentence, but is in a minimum security, treatment setting. This is a sequel to "Another Day in Court" and "Visiting Day."

* * *

The Logical Thing to Do

Chapter 1

House lurched awake at the sound of his door opening. His new pain management regimen mandated sleeping medication, but it left him feeling as if he were trying to swim up through molasses. "House," the guard called.

"Too early," House muttered. The minimum security prison routine rarely required rousting prisoners out of their rooms at odd hours.

"That's the problem," the guard said. "Your wife is in labor."

"Fiancé," House corrected him, automatically. He snapped awake. "It's six and a half months. It's too early."

"That's what I said. A friend of yours is waiting. You have a forty-eight hour pass."

House climbed to his feet as fast as his crippled and sleep-fogged body could manage. He pulled on his prison uniform over the underwear he slept in and groped for his glasses on the bedside chest and his prison-issue cane leaning against the chair. He grabbed his coat from the hook in the corner. His roommate had been released to a halfway house the day before, so at least no one else was startled awake at this hour. He slid on his Nikes. He grabbed his briefcase with laptop, textbook, and journals. "I'm ready."

The guard opened the door and gestured for House to go ahead of him. The prisoners' quarters were more like a college dorm than a cell-block. Nonetheless, there were several locked, heavy doors in dimmed night light to go through until they reached the front office. House retrieved his own clothes and cane and slipped into a changing cubicle. He had left his cell phone and wallet with Cuddy, so it was just a matter of getting dressed. He realized that his hands were shaking as he pulled his jeans on and fastened his belt. He pulled his coat on. It was midwinter and icy cold in the New Jersey night.

Like his release from prison the first time, Foreman was waiting for him. The mood was very different this time, friendship and urgency. After a quick handshake, House limped after him to his car, slowing to negotiate the icy coating on the parking lot. "What is her status?" he asked Foreman, as he slid into the passenger seat. He snapped on his seatbelt as Foreman started the car.

"They think the contractions are slowing. The amniotic sac hasn't ruptured and the cervix has only started to thin. Fetal heartbeat is strong. No preeclampsia. So there is a chance of holding childbirth off for a few days or weeks. Cuddy is alternately calm and terrified. She needs you."

House nodded, finding his own terror wasn't abating. Funny when it was your family, how hard it was to find his objectivity. He took a deep breath. "Are they giving her corticosteroids?"

"Yeah. Fluids and tocolytics."

House nodded, afraid to say anything else. That was standard treatment for preterm labor. The car hurtled on through the darkness. House had not been isolated this time in prison. Foreman, along with Wilson, Cuddy, Chase, and others, had visited regularly. Even his mother and her husband, his not-father-either, had come to see him. The silence in the car had the comfort of old friendship, mixed with urgency. "She has a topnotch OB-GYN," Foreman reminded House. "A neonatologist is standing by. It helps to be the director of the hospital when you're hospitalized. Everyone is jumping to help her."

"Where's Rachel?"

"She's staying with Cuddy's sister tonight."

House grimaced, not sure he could deal with Julia in the midst of a crisis, but Rachel probably was frantic too. He wanted to talk to Wilson, to unleash his worry, and yes, his guilt for getting Cuddy pregnant. She was too old. They were both too old to have a baby… And he stopped, recognizing the destructive thought pattern that Nolan had been trying to help him overcome.

"I can hear you worrying," Foreman commented gently. He touched a couple buttons on his phone and handed House the Blue Tooth.

Wilson answered. "Foreman?" he asked.

"House. How is she?"

"They think they've stopped the labor. She might be looking at a few days or weeks of bed rest. Where are you?"

"I'm calling from Foreman's car. We should be there in an hour. Tell her I'm on the way."

"I'll do that. You two be careful. The roads aren't good tonight."

"No traffic at least. See you."

House disconnected the call. He turned to Foreman's profile in the dark car. "Thank you," he said, unaccustomed to social niceties and tongue-tied with worry.

"It's the least I can do, for friends," Foreman said.

Foreman dropped House at the emergency entrance and went to park his car. House hobbled as fast as he could to the desk. "Lisa Cuddy?" he asked.

"Only family is allowed in there, Sir," the receptionist told him.

House held on to his fraying temper. "I'm her fiancé," he barked. "I'm responsible for this mess…"

The receptionist's eyes widened. Apparently she had been warned about the legendary and cranky diagnostician. "I'll buzz you in," she said.

The first figure he saw in the emergency area was Wilson, disheveled in a sweatshirt and jeans. Wilson ran to him and gripped House's arms. "She's okay," he assured House. "She's okay, and the labor is stopped, at least for now."

House was agitated past worry. "Where is she?"

Wilson led him about halfway down the area and pulled a curtain open. "Lisa," he called, as House rushed past him.

Cuddy reclined on the hard emergency room bed, IVs in both arms. She simply raised her arms to House. He leaned his cane against the bedside chair and folded her in his arms as she burst into tears. He rested his face on her neck. "It's okay," he murmured. "It's okay. The labor's stopped. The baby's all right."

"I'm so glad you're here," she said, voice broken.

"Me, too," he murmured against her hair. He rested a hand on her swollen stomach and could feel the baby kicking in her womb. "Move over," he told her. Cuddy slid over the few inches the narrow bed allowed and House climbed on. He stretched out next to her, arm over her swollen stomach and around her back, and held her. "It's going to be all right. It's all right." Her tears soaked his tee shirt as her sobs slowed.

Cuddy was moved upstairs to a private suite. As hospital director, she had accommodations normally reserved for dignitaries and wealthy donors. A cot was moved in for House. Dawn was beginning to lighten the window through the closed blinds when both fell asleep for a short time before hospital routine disturbed them.

-tbc-


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Wilson brought House a change of clothes in the morning. After he and Cuddy picked at the toast and tea provided for their breakfast, House took advantage of the attached bathroom. He emerged from the bathroom, showered, feeling less groggy, although not less worried, when a pint-sized hurricane tore into the room. "Mama!" Rachel shouted. She caught sight of House. "House!" she added, and barreled into him. "Is there a baby? Can I see my baby brother?"

"Not yet, Rach," House assured her. "The baby isn't ready to come out yet. He's still safe in your Mama's stomach."

Rachel's eyes filled with tears. She pulled the chair over to Cuddy's bed and used it to climb up. Cuddy embraced her daughter. "Hi, Rachel."

"Mama," Rachel said, as she snuggled against her. She rested her hand on Cuddy's stomach. She smiled. "I feel him."

"He's still there, Rachel. All safe and sound."

Cuddy's sister stood in the doorway, watching the reunion. "House," she greeted him with little enthusiasm.

House nodded at her. "Julia," he said.

Cuddy's obstetrician walked in. "It's time to run a few checks, everybody, if you could wait outside?"

"Rachel," Julia called. "We're going to the cafeteria for a few minutes."

Rachel's eyes filled up. "But we just got here," she protested.

"I know, Honey, but your mommy's doctor wants to talk to her."

Rachel wiped the tears away with both fists. "Want a lift?" House asked her. She nodded. He picked her up and swung her down to the floor. He bent down and whispered, "Now, you mind Aunt Julia, okay?"

"Aye, aye, you bloody scalawag," she agreed, and went off grinning, with her hand in Julia's.

The obstetrician turned to House and cleared her throat. "It's okay, I'm a doctor," House said, stating the obvious.

"Not now, you're not."

"It's like riding a bicycle. Besides, I'm responsible for this." He gestured at Cuddy.

"Let him stay," Cuddy said.

House tried to control the smirk as he dragged the chair away from Cuddy's bedside and sat down to watch the obstetrician's thorough examination.

"Well," Doctor Hoffman said at last, "The contractions have stopped. The baby seems fine, although I'll send the neonatologist in to confirm. I could send you home with instructions to take it easy, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable if you stayed here. You are in great shape, but you are old to be carrying what is really your first pregnancy. Lisa, we want to give you and your son the very best shot at this." She looked hard at House. "I gather you would be okay with taking care of Rachel?"

House winced, but Cuddy said, "Of course, I trust him with her, but he can do it only after two more weeks." She shifted uncomfortably and put a hand on her swollen stomach. "But I have a hospital to run. We have a wedding to plan and House can't help right now. We're buying a house. Rachel is a very active five-year-old."

"Exactly. Doctor Cuddy, I think you just told me why you should stay here."

Cuddy seemed to deflate against the pillows on her bed. "All right. All right. Jenna, I can work here."

Doctor Hoffman shook her head. "Lisa, keep it to three hours in the morning, with breaks. Three hours in the afternoon with breaks. That's max. And I don't think there's any way you'll keep this pregnancy all the way to term. Use the time like you planned, to set up your maternity leave."

Cuddy nodded. The obstetrician let herself out of the room. House wrapped his arms around Cuddy again. She was sniffling against his shoulder. After a while, when he noted that his tee-shirt was soaked, he said, "I have an idea."

A rather watery "What idea?" was muttered against his collar bone.

"Well, first, you can trust Julia and your mother to take good care of Rachel until I get out. Then I'll take over. Two, you can turn this luxury suite into a luxury office, suitable for the Director of Princeton General. Tell Arlene to get you some elegant bed jackets. She'll love it and it will keep her out of your hair for a day or two at least. And three, let's get married here, in the hospital chapel, as soon as I get out."

"But I reserved the temple, and sent invitations, and the rabbi, and…"

"Lisa, wait for this summer, when we've moved into the house and the baby is home from the hospital – it looks like he'll be somewhat premature, so he won't be able to go home right away. We can have an even bigger reception, anything you want, invite even more people than I was willing to have for our wedding. Wilson can do some of the legwork for you, get the papers for the marriage license, and my team can help decorate the chapel. At least we have the rings already. Anyhow, that will keep Arlene from taking over."

That earned a sniffle and a chuckle. "Still with the rabbi and a canopy?"

"We wouldn't want to disappoint Rachel."

She sat back against the pillows, a faraway look in her eyes. "That might work. But I wanted to have the _bris_* in our own home. There's too much work on the house to be able to move in as soon as you're released."

House winced. "Our home right now is my apartment. If you insist on traumatizing our infant son with a primitive blood sacrifice, we can have it there. It will keep the crowd to manageable levels…"

Cuddy swatted his arm. "We already talked about it. He won't remember it."

"I will," House said in dire tones. That earned him a giggle and he smiled. "Move over again. I want to cuddle with you, Cuddles."

"We'll scandalize the nurses, and the neonatologist is coming."

"I'm reliably certain that they don't think this," he caressed her stomach, "was the product of immaculate conception." He patted her tummy again. He got serious. "Lisa, it won't be your dream wedding, but it will be good. We'll have a canopy, like you wanted. Rachel will be the flower girl. Wilson can try to find a nice suit to fit his scrawny body. And if you can just hold off becoming a mother for the second time until I get out, the baby will be legitimate and I won't have to try to find a judge who'll overlook my past to let me adopt my own son."

"I'll keep my feet up," she assured him.

"That's my girl!"

Cuddy reached around House's neck and pulled him down for a long, wet kiss. "When do you have to go back to prison?"

"Tomorrow. It's a forty-eight hour pass."

"I wish we could, well, you know, but it's contraindicated right now."

"Damn. But just think how much fun we'll have after the baby is born and you're feeling frisky again."

"I can't wait." The sound of a man clearing his throat broke up their kiss.

"Wilson, your timing sucks," House said without looking up.

"The neonatologist is right behind me. I'm past being embarrassed by you two, but he hasn't reached that greatly desired state of resignation yet."

-tbc-


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Despite three months in prison, House felt almost in charge of his life as he climbed into Wilson's Outback. They had embraced quickly but fervently when he walked through the gate. The two had become more demonstrative since House tended Wilson during his chemotherapy. Odd extended family, House reflected. Only Cuddy meeting him there would have given him more joy. She was stuck in her suite at Princeton General with her feet up, trying to delay giving birth to their son.

"Are you ready?" Wilson asked him, as he pulled into traffic.

"As long as you don't forget the wine glass or the rings."

"All set. We have the flower basket for Rachel. Those giant chrysanthemums Cuddy ordered are as big as she is, so Cuddy is having her sprinkle petals. Arlene is running around driving everyone crazy. Your mother, at least, has been wonderful and Rachel adores her. I think your stepfather, or whatever, is disappointed that he won't be performing the ceremony."

"Cuddy really wants a rabbi. At least Step-Daddy will be up at the front of the room looking semi-official." House barked a laugh. "I think he wanted to give me away." He turned his cane around in his hands. "How is she?" House asked. He didn't have to say who he meant.

"Cuddy has created an office and a conference room in her hospital room. She has her computer, her files, her phone, probably a hot line to the White House. There have been a couple near misses on labor this week but Jenna Hoffman managed to stop it. But if your wedding takes place tomorrow, it can't take place too soon. That baby wants out. And despite looking like she's in charge of everything, Lisa is climbing the walls. I half expect to walk in there and see her levitating above the bed."

House shook his head. "Two months early, but at least we're ready for him."

"Do you have a name picked out?"

"Robert Booker Cuddy-House."

"Robert?"

"Cuddy's father. She really misses him, and she planned to name a child after him." House worried the head of his cane. "Wilson, Cuddy tells me that Jews don't really have godparents, and I don't believe in that, anyway…"

"What, House?"

"Would you be his godfather?" House asked.

Wilson took his hand from the wheel and wrapped his hand around House's forearm. "I'm honored, truly honored. Thank you for asking. I'll always be there for him."

House nodded his head once, and Wilson, seeing that characteristic gesture, smiled. "House, isn't James Booker one of your favorite musicians?"

House smirked. "Arlene says Jews don't name children after the living because, and I quote, 'The Angel of Death,' blessed be he, might mistake the child for the older relative and take the child, prematurely."

Wilson grinned, then realized what House was saying. "You're naming him after me."

"Don't tell Arlene."

"My lips are sealed." The car sped on through the cold New Jersey morning. "House?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

-tbc-


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

House limped into Cuddy's suite and stopped, bemused. It did look like an office, albeit with medical paraphernalia around the periphery. She held court in the middle, regal in a violet bed jacket. A cup of tea sat on the bedside table next to her phones. The mobile table in front of her held a pile of file folders and her laptop. She saw him and burst into a smile. "Doctor Cuddy, I presume," he said.

Cuddy pushed the table away from the bed and held out her arms. House walked forward and let her wrap her arms around his neck. He held her gently, afraid to hold her too hard, unwilling to let go. "We made it," she said.

"We made it," he confirmed. "Scoot over." Cuddy slid as far as the hospital bed rail would allow her.

"I feel like a beached whale," she mourned.

"I see our little pirate has even you using nautical metaphors. Lisa, you are beautiful. You'll always be beautiful." He paused. "Even as a whale, or a small tugboat." That got him a giggle and a swat on the arm. House kicked off his running shoes and lay down next to her, relishing the feeling of her body in his arms at last. He leaned over her and kissed her with all the loneliness of the last months. "So where were we?" he asked, finally.

"I think we're getting married tomorrow."

House rolled onto his back and looked bewildered. "Married? When did all this happen?" Cuddy punched his arm. "Ow. We must be getting married. You're abusing me."

Another giggle. He loved it when his ever so competent Doctor Cuddy turned into the beautiful girl he remembered from so long ago in Michigan. House turned on his side and propped himself up on one elbow. He looked down his nose at her. "It's going to be a strange honeymoon, a hospital bed, no sex, and eventually a baby."

"But just think of the belated wedding trip we'll take in a few months."

"Believe me, I can't think of much else." He bent down and kissed her belly through her very conservative nightgown and jacket. "Bobby, we're thinking of you, too." Through his lips he felt a kick from inside Cuddy's womb. He looked up. "Bobby agrees with me."

Cuddy shook her head. "I'm alone in a room with my fiancé and an unborn baby and I feel outnumbered. Well, we have things to do. Do you want to go home and get some clean clothes?"

"And a shower without anyone around. I'll use your car to take Rachel to school and so forth. It will be strange to be there with her but not you."

"Are you sure you want to take care of her?" Cuddy said.

"Lisa," he said gently, "I promised her that she is my daughter. I'll stay with you here tomorrow night. We may not be able to consummate our marriage, although that would be sort of redundant now, but it's our wedding night and I don't want to be anywhere else. After that, until the baby is born, well, Rachel needs her parents, not her aunt, not her grandmothers."

"I lobe you," Cuddy said, incredible smile wide and happy.

"I lobe you, too," he said. "But we really ought to get a Scrabble set with all the letters." Her giggle turned into an full-on laugh and followed House out the door. He knew she had returned to hospital administrator mode behind him, and thought to himself, who knew how sexy she could make that.

House phoned Wilson at his office. "Take me home, Wilson. I want to wash prison off, before Arlene and my mother swoop in for the attack."

"I was waiting for your call. But Chase would like it if you would stop by the office, today."

"The women expect us to be fussing about tomorrow."

"They're all doing it. We don't have to. We'll just check in. I'll be there to pick you up in a half hour. Meet me down at the lobby entrance?"

"You got it."

-tbc-


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A shower at Wilson's loft and clean clothes felt wonderful. House trimmed his prison-length hair. On the way back to Princeton General, they stopped at Princeton Plainsboro. House smiled with a happiness that surprised him as they walked together through the glass door. They rode the elevator in silence to the fourth floor and to House's old office. Chase's name on a temporary plaque covered his for now, but the office was still his home as much as his apartment was home. He thought of the new house he hadn't seen yet that would be his home with Cuddy and the children.

In the office his stuff was carefully stored on shelves on one wall. He pushed the door open. Chase looked up from the computer, then stood up. Seeing his happy smile, House felt a sort of warm clench in his stomach. The stress of the last months unwound a little more.

"You're back," Chase said, redundantly, but House didn't mind.

"No license. This is still your department. How can a wombat run a department?"

Chase snorted appreciatively at the dig. Things would go back to normal. "Just a matter of time till you're official, and I can escape being abused and go back to Surgery. Meanwhile, I hate to keep you at a desk in the conference room, terrorizing the fellows, but that's all the room we have."

House eased himself into the chair across the desk from Chase. "It's not prison. I'm grateful for that."

"That's not how you dealt with it last time."

"Priorities change."

"Yeah, they do."

"Well, I suspect the women want me to spend the afternoon getting ready for tomorrow. I think I'd better be there, especially since Cuddy isn't supposed to do anything except look good tomorrow and say 'I do.' Oh, and not give birth tomorrow."

Chase laughed outright at that. "It would make for a shotgun wedding. Should I bring one?"

"I suggested it. She didn't seem to think it was funny…"

House dutifully looked into the chapel on the way back to Cuddy's room. Arlene was kibitzing as the florist decorated the chapel. He noticed that the _huppah_** was set up already. He had expected to be nervous. He wasn't. Tomorrow the woman he had loved for years would become his wife. It was all happy.

Dominika had offered to give him away, but he knew that Cuddy wouldn't find it amusing. Besides, Dominika's knish food truck was flourishing and it was a weekday; her loyal customers near the downtown office buildings would be disappointed if she didn't show up. She needed the income for the coming birth of the baby whom she and her husband, the Ukrainian bouncer, were expecting in a few months.

Wilson had the look of a proud parent as he followed House around Princeton General. House, ten years older, several inches taller, and world weary, was tolerantly amused by Wilson's brotherly concern. How strange, he thought. How strange that the tough parts of their lives would lead to this. Crippling injury, psychosis, prison, Wilson's cancer, and it ended up with an imminent wedding and a soon-to-be-born baby. He pushed into Cuddy's office/living space/hospital room. "Madam Director," he murmured.

She looked up as she was logging off her computer. "I like Cuddles better. And Mama." She shut the lid on the laptop. "See, I'm being good."

"Astounding. Is it okay if I don't call you Mom?"

House felt arms snake around his middle. "You call me Mom," his mother said. "Greg."

He turned in the circle of her arms and embraced her. "Mom," he murmured.

"Rachel is delightful. I can't wait until I have two grandbabies to spoil."

House looked up to see Cuddy's happy face. Heart bursting with an unexpected burst of pure happiness, he led his mother over to the sofa in the corner. "Mom," he said again, and let the unaccustomed feeling envelop him.

There was a small rehearsal dinner in Cuddy's suite that evening. The rehearsal run-through had Cameron standing in for Cuddy, equally pregnant to House's amusement, but ten years younger and likely to carry her second child to term. Rachel threw her imaginary flower petals around with great diligence, then sat between her two grandmothers giggling. House stood next to Wilson while Rabbi Perlman explained the ceremony. The Reverend Thomas Bell, House's not-quite-father-either, stood next to him, beaming.

-tbc-


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

House woke up in his bed in Wilson's loft on the day of his marriage. He stretched and scratched his stubbly chin. Well, he knew Cuddy had had her hair styled and had a professional manicure the day before. He assumed more beautification would proceed this morning. It was his turn to bow to the day's necessities. He climbed to his feet and listened to Wilson using the hair dryer. At least Wilson's hair was long enough again to make the effort worthwhile. Wilson's eyebrows had grown in, if anything, even bushier than before. His suit was still at least a size too big, but gradually, Wilson was regaining weight as well as his hair and his coloring was back to normal, from the nearly fluorescent greenish gray that characterized some of his time on chemotherapy.

House pulled the razor from the drawer. The last time he had been clean shaven was when he went to court before being sentenced to his last, three-month, prison term. Before that, it had been when he resigned from Princeton Plainsboro, after Cuddy refused to let him use methadone. He hoped she wouldn't be too startled. He lathered up, shaved off his stubble, then stepped into the shower to rinse it off.

It was time. House slipped on the white, starched shirt and tucked it into his blue trousers. His dress shoes shone in the bedroom light. He tied the conservative, blue-striped silk tie and shrugged into his suit jacket. Ready to face his family and friends, he took his very best cane, ebony, with a silver handle, and opened the bedroom door.

Wilson looked up and beamed. "You look great," he said. "Does Cuddy know you were coming nude, as it were?"

"No," House said, straight-faced. "Can we?"

"Behave yourself," Wilson said, resigned to playing straight man.

"Wilson, do you have the rings?"

"Yes, House, I have the rings."

"The wine glass? How about the head gear?"

"Motorcycle helmets?" Wilson asked, playing along.

House sighed.

"You know, the wine glass is actually a light bulb, easier and safer to smash, and it's wrapped in a towel and it's on the table under the _huppah_ in the chapel. I have our _yarmulkes_***. Cuddy has the marriage license and the _ketubah_**** in her room. Are you all right?"

House looked down, as always uncomfortable discussing his feelings. He rubbed the handle of the cane with both hands for a moment. Then he said, with absolute conviction, "I regret not doing this years ago. Look at all the time I frittered away. We love each other, we loved each other all along, and I was so busy being, well, being me, that I never gave us the room to find the way to be together. So yeah, regrets, but mostly joy. And worry. Lisa could go into labor any time." He grinned. "So we'd better hurry."

They took the elevator down to the parking lot and settled in Wilson's car. Wilson backed out of his space. As Wilson turned onto the street, House said quietly, "Wilson, thank you. Thank you for everything."

Wilson pulled up to a red light and turned to face his friend. "No, House, thank _you_."

-tbc-


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Wilson dropped House at the main lobby door and went to park the car. House limped to the chapel. He noticed uncomfortably that the nurses near the reception area were beaming at him. His mother and her husband were there already. Thirteen had come with her girlfriend. Foreman and his fiancé, Chase and surprisingly, Park, and Cameron and her husband were waiting. A violinist stood next to the baby grand piano and the pianist. House nodded to them. They were part of a jazz ensemble that House jammed with on occasion at clubs in Trenton and Princeton. Taub, a good photographer who had gotten better since he had two daughters of his own, was checking his cameras. Wilson walked in with his tall, red-haired girlfriend, Doctor Fiona Buchanan. The rabbi walked forward to greet House.

House and Wilson reached the front of the room. House stepped under the canopy. Rabbi Perlman took his place. Looking back to the door, House could see Chelsea Lowenstein, Cuddy's best friend, holding Rachel's hand. Rachel kept peeking around the doorframe and getting pulled back. Cuddy's sister, Julia and her husband and children, sat on the other side of the aisle from House's parents and team. Julia had threatened to boycott the ceremony, but Arlene, House's most unlikely advocate, had told Julia in the strongest terms that a family schism would not be tolerated.

The music changed to Bob Dylan's "Love Minus Zero, No Limit." The piano player leaned into the microphone, "My love she speaks like silence. Without ideals or violence…" The guests rose. House looked up. Chelsea walked down the aisle with her bouquet of yellow and pink roses and took her place opposite House and Wilson. With her small wedding party, Cuddy had chosen not to select bridesmaids' dresses. Chelsea wore a pink suit with a darker pink shell that almost matched the pink in the roses. Then Rachel emerged, wearing a violet satin dress with a yellow sash and bow in the back and a yellow ribbon in her hair, enthusiastically spreading yellow chrysanthemum petals until she reached the cluster of adults at the front of the room. She still had a few left in her basket when she ran out of aisle, so she giggled and tossed them in the air. She went to stand by Chelsea who took her hand.

Finally, Cuddy entered the hall on the arm of her mother. Arlene wore a splendid terra-cotta-colored suit. Cuddy's suit was a rich ivory, the jacket emphasizing, rather than concealing her bulging pregnancy. Her hair was swept up to fall in a cascade of curls down the back of her neck. She carried a simple arrangement of yellow and deep pink roses with small white flowers, all wrapped in an ivory ribbon. House caught his breath. She was magnificent. He met her gaze and they never took their eyes from each other as she walked down the aisle. Arlene delivered her daughter to the canopy and took her seat in the front row.

House hooked his cane over his arm and took Cuddy's hand. The ceremony began. He realized that he felt a curious mix of love and joy. It was his wedding. One was supposed to be nervous, he thought, but instead it was with absolute conviction that he turned to Cuddy to say the vows that he had prepared, refining the words, rewriting them, in his cell in the prison. He took her other hand, too. "Lisa Cuddy," he began. He cleared his throat and said it again, "Lisa, I love saying your name or hearing your name. I have loved you since I met you, all the way back at the University of Michigan. You were brilliant, driven, funny, sexy, and drop dead gorgeous. You still are, and if that weren't enough, now you are accomplished and successful. Now you are a mother. I wish I had been able stay with you then, because it would have saved a lot of trouble and heartache, but I can't say it was all a waste, because I love where we are now. Now, I'm not just marrying you, I'm making a family with you and Rachel and our unborn baby. I promise you that I will love you for the rest of my life. I promise to be faithful, because I will never want anyone other than the girl I fell for so long ago, more than half my life ago, and the woman whom I want even more today. I promise not to be an ass, at least, not when you need me to be there for you." He heard Wilson's soft snort of appreciation and he grinned. "Or at least, I promise to try." He got serious. "I promise to try. Lisa Cuddy, I promise to love, honor, and cherish you for the rest of my life."

Cuddy swallowed, then looked up again into House's brilliant blue eyes and at his strangely bare but compelling face. "Gregory House," she said, "I told you once that you are the most incredible man I have ever known. You were, when I fell in love with you so long ago in Michigan, and you still are and always will be the most incredible man I have ever known. I wish we had been able to stay together then, but then we might not have the family we are creating today. We've come through fire, you and I, but it has made us stronger. I love your amazing, brilliant mind. I love your sense of humor. I love how you can be serious and I love how you can be silly. I love it when you make music. I love how you love Rachel. I love you because you are the most loving man I've ever known. And I love your beautiful body. Gregory House, I promise to love, honor, and cherish you for the rest of my life."

The two turned back to the rabbi who said the appropriate blessings. They exchanged rings. Then Rabbi Perlman said solemnly, "I now pronounce you husband and wife." He dropped the wrapped light bulb on the floor by House's feet. House took his cane in his right hand, balanced carefully, and stomped the glass with his left foot. It made a satisfying crunch and pop. House leaned down to wrap Cuddy in his arms and share with her a kiss that deepened as family and friends shouted "Mazel tov!" They finally came up for air when Rachel pulled on her mother's bouquet. They bent down and lifted her up, then swinging her between them, they walked to the back of the room where a reception was being set up by the caterers.

Cuddy sank gratefully into the wheelchair and rested her hand on her swollen belly. "Are you okay?" House asked anxiously.

She took his hand and rested it on her stomach. "He's happy. He's doing backflips." House bent down and kissed her just above where her hand rested.

"We made it," he said, sounding a little dazed. Rachel skipped off to stand with Arlene.

House's mother and her new husband joined them. Blythe kissed Cuddy on the cheek. "Welcome to the family," she told Lisa. "And welcome to your delightful daughter. I've always wanted grandchildren. Pretty soon, I'll have two."

"Ah, my beautiful daughter-in-law," Reverend Bell crooned, "welcome to the family."

House and Cuddy signed the marriage license, then posed for seemingly endless photos. A light buffet was spread out on table at the back of the room with small bagels, cookies, a modest wedding cake, and ginger ale for the bride instead of champagne. House couldn't take his hands from Cuddy. He noticed she was looking tired. "I think we should go back upstairs, soon," he murmured in her ear.

"I think so too," she agreed, pulling his head down for a kiss.

They were interrupted by Wilson clearing his throat. "A few toasts, a little wedding cake, and we'll get your Lisa back to bed," he suggested.

"You've been plotting this wedding toast for months," House muttered suspiciously.

"You bet," Wilson agreed, with a grin. He tapped on a glass with a spoon and waited for the bustle to quiet down.

"Rarely," he began, "Rarely, has anyone had to wait so long to prepare a best man's toast for his best friend." He waited for the laughter to quiet down. "I have had a front row seat to this courtship. Lisa Cuddy has been my closest friend after House for many years. I am so relieved they've finally gotten their long, long off-again, on-again relationship straightened out. Their living together will certainly make my Chanukah gift giving much simpler," again, chuckles. "And," he continued, "And lower my dependency on anti-anxiety medication." He waited for the laughter to die down. "This toast may also set a record, since it follows the eulogy I gave for the groom at his funeral!" More laughter.

Wilson, with impeccable timing, continued, "Most of us may go all through life without encountering an epic love affair. Epic affairs do present difficulties, but this epic has turned into a fairy tale. Lisa Cuddy and Gregory House have achieved their happily ever after. I didn't have time to check this on You Tube, so I may misquote, but I want to refer to the scene in _Star Trek_ in which Spock says to his Vulcan father, Sarek, 'She's very emotional, isn't she,' referring to his human mother. Sarek responds, 'She has always been so.' 'Indeed,' Spock responds, 'Why did you marry her?' and Sarek's answer was, 'It was the logical thing to do at the time.' Well, I'm not sure who is the Vulcan and who is the human in House and Cuddy's marriage, maybe they're each a little of both, but this marriage is the logical outcome of their long, long affair." He raised his glass. "Cuddy, I love you. You have always been a good friend. House, you told me not to get sappy, but I can't help myself. You are my brother. Thank God I have lived to see you two together. I wish for you a long and happy life together with your children. Mazel tov!"

He sipped his from his glass as the gathered friends and relatives of Lisa Cuddy and Gregory House echoed him, saying "Mazel tov," and drinking their ginger ale.

House, Cuddy, and Rachel stood behind the cake and placed their hands together on the knife to cut the cake, then Arlene and Blythe took over passing pieces out to all the guests. Taub was busy with his cameras, while many of the guests took pictures with their phones. Arlene handed Rachel her little, pink I-phone and she carefully took a picture of her mother and new stepfather.

House's mother walked to stand near Cuddy and House. Her eyes were damp. She raised her glass. "Over two years ago, I thought I had lost my son. I was so relieved when he and Wilson came by my home to assure me that he was alive. But I never thought we would reach a day of such joy. Now I have a daughter and a granddaughter. Soon I'll have a grandson, and yes, James, I think I have a younger son, too. And I couldn't be more pleased. I, too, wish only happiness for my family, my wonderful, suddenly much larger family." She sipped her drink, then kissed Cuddy's cheek, bent down to kiss Rachel, then wrapped her arms around House and hugged him. A little awkwardly he bent down to kiss the top of her head.

A few more toasts followed. Foreman echoed Wilson's experience, as a witness of House and Cuddy's long romance. Arlene spoke briefly and surprisingly gracefully, pointing out that few mothers of the bride could say that their son-in-law had saved her life. Chase praised both House and Cuddy as his friends and mentors, and mentioned the PPTH hospital pool on when the baby would be born. House knew that Chase had refrained from mentioning the pool about whether or not the marriage would take place at all.

Finally Wilson stepped forward again. "I think we need to let the bride get back to her room with her bridegroom. So let's give them a send off with the traditional bouquet toss and another round of congratulations!" He turned to Cuddy. "Lisa?"

Cuddy waved her bouquet and stood carefully, other hand resting on her baby-swollen belly. Then she turned her back to her family and friends and tossed the bouquet over her shoulder. There were gasps and giggles as Doctor Park caught it as it nearly hit her in the face. She looked shocked at first, but then she laughed and waved it. Chase looked down at Park, and to House's surprise, Chase grinned and put an arm around her.

Cuddy eased herself back into the wheelchair. House noticed that someone had hung a sign on the back saying "Just Married." He looped his cane over his arm and took the handles. Rachel rushed up to them. Cuddy gave her a hug. House bent over her and hugged her in turn. "I'll pick you up tomorrow at your aunt's house, okay?" he kissed her cheek. "You're my daughter, now," he told her. "I love you very much. Now you be good for your Aunt Julia."

Then House pushed Cuddy out of the hospital chapel and to the elevators. Many members of the hospital staff were waiting for them in the lobby. A cheer rose up. Cuddy had sent a memo requesting that staff members not throw rice or other traditional substances since it might get in the way of patients or visitors. Rather, the staff members cheered for the couple. House watched with admiration as Cuddy smiled and waved. He felt a little as if he were the escort of a queen. Nonetheless, he was grateful as the elevator doors closed behind them. "Cuddy," he said, voice a little thick with emotion and wonder, "We did it. We did it." He bent down to kiss her. They didn't notice the elevator had stopped at their floor and the doors opened until someone whistled behind them.

-tbc-


	8. Chapter 8

And so we come to the end of this tale. Thank you for all the lovely feedback, especially to guest reviewers whom I can't thank directly. Let us wish all the best to our happy couple.

* * *

Chapter 8

House pushed the chair to Cuddy's room. The hospital suite had been decorated with white ribbons and with flowers. The sofa, the recliner, the idle IV pole, the bed table, and the bed frame had flowers and some streamers attached to them. Snacks were laid out on the desk. Bottles of sparkling grape juice, red and white, sat chilling in ice in a wine bucket. Champagne glasses were arrayed by the snacks on the side table, along with pieces of the wedding cake from downstairs. House lowered the blinds and shut the door of the room.

"May I help you to get into something more comfortable?" he asked voice deeper than usual.

A stunning, white lace nightgown lay on the hospital bed. House helped Cuddy draw off her suit jacket. He pulled her skirt down over her baby bulge with reverence. She wore a garter belt and stockings and he helped her to roll the stockings down and over her feet. She was exhausted, so with an arm around her shoulders, he helped her to sit on the hospital bed. She stretched out gratefully. He pulled the hospital sheets and blanket over her.

A soft, white nightshirt awaited him in the small wardrobe. House pulled his own clothing off and shrugged into the nightshirt. He rested his cane on the chair that held his haphazardly folded clothing. Then he climbed under the sheet and blanket and held Cuddy to him. There was barely room for both of them, even though the bed was the largest size available in the hospital. It didn't matter. He held Cuddy close.

"We did it," he said again, burying his face in Cuddy's curly dark hair. He felt that, at last, he had come to safety and had come home. "Lisa, I love you," he whispered, choking on the emotion.

"And I love you so much," Cuddy whispered back. They fell asleep wrapped in each other's arms.

* * *

Epilogue

The notice in the newspaper the next day was brief._ "Married, Dr. Lisa Cuddy and Dr. Gregory House, in the chapel of Princeton General Hospital. The private Jewish ceremony was attended by family and friends. The couple will reside in Princeton."_

Two weeks later, another notice appeared._ "Born, a son, to Dr. Lisa Cuddy and Dr. Gregory House. Robert Booker Cuddy-House weighed five and three-fourths pounds and measured seventeen and a half inches. Mother and son are doing well."_

* * *

*_Bris_. Jewish male infant circumcision ceremony.

**_Huppah_. Wedding canopy.

***_Yarmulke_. Skull cap.

****_Ketubah_. Marriage contract.


End file.
